In contrast to Makonde, Bena and Rangi are analyzed as having verb forms which highlight the situation they express, as opposed to downgrading its importance in relation to what follows. In Bena,
neke ‘then’ and the subjunctive SC-VR-ag-e can combine to signal a thematic development: Bena Eaton 2015a:46
94 Amadzebele pe ga-a-viye
ga-kang-iye, amadege gikw-adz-ag-a
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ku-liy-a. 6.maize
when 6-
P
2-
COP
-
ANT
6-ripen-
ANT
6.birds 6.
CONS
-come-
IPFV
-
FV INF
-eat-
FV
Neke umunya mugunda yula a-wuyap-ag-e
umuhadiho then 1.owner 3.field
1.
DEM
_
DIST
3
SG
-set-
IPFV
-
SUB
3.trap nu ku-viik-a mu mugunda ugwa madzebele.
COM INF
-put-
FV
in 3.field 3.
ASS
6.maize ‘When the maize had ripened, the birds came to eat it. Then the field owner set a trap and put it in
the maize field.’ The farmer attempts to solve the problem of his maize being eaten by birds by setting a trap. The
setting of the trap neke… awuyapage ‘then… he set’ is given prominence as the first significant development in the narrative.
In Rangi, the referential copula noo highlights the event it expresses, in contrast to the default choice of the consecutive SC-ka-VR-a for the event-line. The following example shows the original
wording of an example on the left, which uses a consecutive ɨkalooka, and the edited version on the
right, which uses the referential copula noo. The change the author made in the editing process marks the running away of Hare as the climax of the episode.
Rangi Stegen 2011:271 95 maa
ntʉʉjʉ ɨ-ka-look-a noo
tɨɨj-a and_then 9.hare 9-
CONS
-leave-
FV
→
COP
:
REF
run_away-
FV
‘and then Hare left’ → ‘and then that’s running away’
5.4 Variation due to style and register
In some of the languages in the sample, there are indications that variation in tense and aspect can be explained by reference to style and register. Walker 2011:7–8 notes that in some Kabwa texts, the
continuous aspect SC-ra-VR-a was used instead of the expected consecutive tense SC-ka-VR-a in foreground clauses:
Kabwa Walker 2011:7 96 Bha-ra-gamb-a, “Tu-nyooreri esimiti
ya oku-hagaj-ir-a.” 3
PL
-
CONT
-say-
FV
1
PL
-have_got 9.cement of
INF
-build-
APPL
-
FV
Bha-hik-ang-a, iika, esimiti
hiyo a-ra-gwat-an-a
kya erigina. 3
PL
.
P
2-arrive-
HAB
-
FV
home 9.cement 9.
DEM
_
REF
9-
CONT
-hold-
RECIP
-
FV
of stone ‘They said, “We’ve got cement with which to build.” They arrived home, this cement was full of
stones.’ In this example, two verbs bharagamba ‘they are saying’ and aragwatana ‘it is holding together’ use
the continuous aspect, even though they occur in foreeground clauses referring to past events happening
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Underlying: ga-i-ku-adz-ag-a 6-3
SG
-
CONS
-
INF
-come-
IPFV
-
FV
.
in sequence, and therefore would be expected to use the consecutive tense. The texts in which this use of the continuous aspect occurred were given orally and then transcribed without extensive editing. On
reading the transcription of the texts, Kabwa speakers commented that using the continuous aspect in this way was not a proper storytelling technique.
A similar phenomenon can be seen in Malila. In this language, texts which were likewise first given orally and then transcribed sometimes used the present perfective SC-a-VR-a for narrating foreground
material as in the example below, instead of the usual far past narrative SC-kha-VR-a. Malila speakers considered this narrative strategy as inappropriate for a written story, but acceptable in an informal
story told orally.
Malila Eaton 2015b:24 97 Pe
a- tʉ-lem-a
ɨtwe, a-tʉ-twal-a
mu polisi. then 3
SG
.
PFV
-1
PL
-grab-
FV
1pl 3
SG
.
PFV
-1
PL
-take-
FV
in 9.police ‘Then he grabbed us and took us into the police station.’
5.5 Movement expressions
While some eastern Bantu languages, like Malila, express change of location using only lexical verbs such as ‘go’ and ‘come’ Eaton 2015b:26, others also have grammaticalized expressions of movement or lack
of movement including ‘adverbial auxiliaries’ such as -gendi ‘go’, -yiji ‘come’, -hikiri ‘arrive’ and -sigali ‘remain’ in Fuliiru see Nicolle 2003 and the itive, ventive, switch-locational and distal markers in Rangi
Stegen 2011:290–1 and Digo Nicolle 2003; 2013:167–173; 2015:25–26, which are verbal prefixes with many of the morphosyntactic properties of tense and aspect markers. Itive markers indicate
movement away from the deictic centre and ventive markers indicate movement towards the deictic centre, where the deictic centre is the notional location of the narrator, functioning as a reference point
relative to which events in a narrative take place. The use of itive and ventive markers rather than lexical verbs of movement has the effect of backgrounding the change of location whilst allowing the
event described in the main verb to be foregrounded.
Rangi has an itive marker too- derived from - ɨta ‘go’ which follows a tense or aspect marker:
Rangi Stegen 2011:290 98 va-ka-too-
lu̵u̵sa 3
PL
-
CONS
-
ITIVE
-say ‘they went and said’
Digo also has an itive marker, enda-, which occurs in finite clauses following a tense, aspect or infinitive marker:
Digo Nicolle 2015:54 99 Na=ye
yuya mzee wa-katik-a
mairo kaya
COM
=1.
REF
1.
DEM
_
DIST
1.elder 3
SG
.
PST
-cut-
FV
fast 5.home
ku-enda-ih-a aya-e
phamwenga na mche-we.
INF
-
ITIVE
-call-
FV
2.fellows-2.3
SG
.
POS
together
COM
1.wife-1.3
SG
.
POS
‘And that old man ran quickly home to go and tell his companions and his wife.’
In addition, Digo has another itive marker, consisting of the prefix ka-, which replaces a tense or aspect marker, and the subjunctive suffix -e;
32
this itive marker occurs in complementary distribution with enda-, in non-finite clauses:
Digo Nicolle 2015:24 100 N-chi-amb-a
“Aha n’-nda-phiy-a n-ka-jit-e kuko
mbere mana 1
SG
-
CONS
-say-
FV
no 1
SG
-
FUT
-go-
FV
1
SG
-
ITIVE
-cook-
SUB
17.
DEM
_
REF
ahead for na-tak-a
ni-fik-e mapema kura
kazi-ni n-ka-dzi-tayarish-e.”
1
SG
.
PRES
-want-
FV
1
SG
-arrive-
SUB
early 17.
DEM
_
DIST
work-
LOC
1
SG
-
ITIVE
-
REFL
-prepare-
SUB
‘I said, “No, I will go and cook brew tea there ahead because I want to arrive at work early to go and prepare myself.”’
Ventive markers include Rangi joo- derived from - ʉja ‘come’ and Digo edza- which is identical to the
lexical verb meaning ‘come’ but forms part of a single verb group with a lexical verb. As well as indicating movement towards the deictic centre, edza- may also express immediacy:
Digo Nicolle 2015:5 101 Kpwedza-u-gut-a
hura muhambo tu, na=o u-chi-fyuk-a,
a-chi-gbwir-w-a.
INF
.
VENT
-14-touch-
FV
14.
DEM
_
DIST
3.trap just
COM
=3 3-
CONS
-shut-
FV
3
SG
-
CONS
-seize-
PASS
-
FV
‘As soon as he touched the trap [lit: Coming to touch that trap] it snapped shut, and he was trapped.’
Both Rangi and Digo have movement expressions which indicate that an action occurs at a different location from the deictic centre, but without indicating movement from or towards the deictic centre.
Rangi has a ‘switch-locational’ marker koo- that is derived from the noun class 17 locative prefix k ʉ-. In
the following example, a father has sent his children to check on a trap; Stegen 2011:291 comments, “there is a switch in location but neither itive -too- nor ventive -joo- would be appropriate as the
participants doing the sending and the looking are different.”
Rangi Stegen 2011:360 102 Maa haha aa-ndo-va-
tu̵m-a vaana
vaachwe koo-lang-a.
and now 3
SG
.
PST
-
ITER
-2-send-
FV
2.children 2.3
SG
.
POSS LOC
-look-
FV
‘And now he repeatedly sent his children to look there.’ Digo also has a verbal prefix which replaces a tense or aspect marker, termed the ‘distal’ marker,
which indicates that an event occurs at a location other than the deictic centre: Digo Nicolle 2015:42
103 “U-chi-fik-a kaya u-si-phiy-e
u-cha-mu-ambir-a mche-o…”
2
SG
-
DEP
-arrive-
FV
9.home 2
SG
-
NEG
-go-sub 2
SG
-
DIST
-3
SG
-tell-
FV
1.wife-2
SG
.
POSS
“When you arrive home, do not go and tell your wife there…” Not all movement expressions are as explicit as those described above. Makonde has a construction
in which the comitative marker na is prefixed to a verb stem to indicate either the purpose for some action or the resulting situation; Leach 2015:78–79 terms this ‘purposive’. The purposive may follow a
lexical verb of movement, such as ‘descend’ in the first example below; or it may occur in situations in which movement is implied, as in the second example:
32
This construction is found in Makonde and various other eastern and southern Bantu languages; for a discussion, see Botne 1999.
Makonde Leach 2015:58 104 shuni aijá
ku-shuluk-a na=ikal-a po pa-ikele
munu. bird 1a.
DEM
_
DIST NARR
-descend-
FV COM
=sit-
FV LOC
LOC
-sit.
PST
1.person ‘that bird descended and sat where the person was sitting.’
Makonde Leach 2015:52 105 Muliduva limo tayali na=kody-a inembo
i-ndi-injil-a. day
one already
COM
=find-
FV
9.elephant 9-
ANT
-enter-
FV
‘One day finally he came and found that an elephant had fallen in.’
6 Information structure
Information structure concerns the ways in which narrators help hearersreaders to identify new information in a sentence, and then to combine it with information that they already have in order to
arrive at a coherent interpretation of a text. Information structure in eastern Bantu narrative texts is primarily expressed through variations in the relative order of subject, verb, object and oblique
constituents in a sentence, although intonation, pauses and focus markers also play a role. In this section, I shall describe various combinations of topic and focus known as ‘sentence articulations’ found in the
narrative corpora.
6.1 Fundamental concepts and terminology